Jul 2019
23
Using intelligent automation to streamline the payroll process
There’s a part in Joseph Heller’s classic novel Catch-22 where the character asks a military officer: “What do you do when it rains?" The captain answers the question frankly. "I get wet.” The captain’s resignation and simple acceptance echo the accountant’s attitude to admin. What else is there to do when processing payroll? Same as getting wet in the rain, payroll processing comes assigned with a burdensome bureaucracy.
Or does it? There are a lot of boxes to be ticked in the accounting profession. There are laws, statutes, regulations, each adding another bit of work to your already busy schedule. Indeed, the profession will never be without its share of bureaucracy and admin. But payroll doesn’t have to mean legwork and elbow grease. By using intelligent automation and the right system, you can cut out many of the repetitive (and plain tedious aspects) of payroll processing. Repetition becomes a thing of the past, too.
With Thesaurus Connect it couldn’t be simpler. Payroll reports are automatically synced to the online employer dashboard where users can log in and view payroll information from anywhere. This includes payslips, periodic reporting, P60s, and P45s.
But perhaps for payroll bureaus the most critical way you can reduce the admin burden is by devolving it, so it’s not all on you. Using the password protected self-service portal, your clients and their employees can login online to view their payroll data. For routine tasks, clients can help themselves. The more mundane aspects of payroll processing hum along in the background while you focus on the important stuff. All while maintaining complete control over the entire process.
So what do you do when it rains? You don’t have to get wet - and if you’re a payroll bureau, there’s a more straightforward, smarter way ahead. Admin doesn’t need to be a by-word for payroll, with Thesaurus Connect it can be a profitable, low touch service.
Book a demo today to find out how Thesaurus Connect can streamline your payroll processing.
Jul 2019
11
Save Time with Thesaurus Connect
Time is one of the most valuable assets to any company. We all get overwhelmed with our workload from time to time, Thesaurus Connect can permanently minimise this happening to you. It’s always nice to tick off your to-do list one by one with no interruption. Thesaurus Connect can help you achieve this and save you TIME.
Traceability. Everything on Thesaurus Connect can be traced, from annual leave requests to documents that have been viewed. All holiday requests approved or rejected, are listed on the dashboard of your Thesaurus Connect. This also includes sick days and unpaid leave for all employees. Any documents that are uploaded by the employer can be viewed by the relevant employee. The activity log allows the employer to view who has read each document with a time stamp. Employees can request to change any personal information on Thesaurus Connect, the new information is logged on the notification section which makes it quick and easy for the employer to view and change. All the above contributes to the employer being completely GDPR compliant.
Independence. Thesaurus Connect gives the employee independence when it comes to managing their personal information and payslips. They have secure access to their own payslips from any location with the use of the free App. They can download and print recent and past payslips without having to request them from the Payroll department. They also have secure access to their own personal information and can request to change any personal details on file at any time. Every employee can view their own profile from work or in the comfort of their own home.
Mobility. Thesaurus Connect give both the employer and employee the option of mobility. Both the employer and employee dashboard can be accessed from any PC or desktop once the username and password are entered correctly. It also allows the back-up to be restored on any PC once Thesaurus Payroll Manager is installed, this feature comes in particularly handy if the PC or laptop the employer has previously been working on crashes or is damaged. If for any reason an employee needs to apply for annual leave or access any payslip, this can all be done from a remote location once logged onto their own Thesaurus Connect.
Efficient. Thesaurus Connect is extremely efficient. It allows the employer to carry out everyday tasks with ease. Once the employer data is synchronised from Thesaurus Payroll Manager it immediately appears on the Thesaurus Connect dashboard. Once the employer has finalised the payroll for that pay period it can be synchronised and backed-up immediately. It also streamlines the new employee process allowing the new employee to view their Contract of Employment and Employee handbook online while also eliminating the old-style paperwork usually passed from employer to employee.
Watch our short employer video below which explains how Thesaurus Connect can streamline the workload in the payroll department. Move into the cloud where everything is completed with ease.
Jul 2019
11
Auto Enrolment: More payroll changes on the way
The government has announced major changes to the pensions system in Ireland, including State, private and public service pensions, which aims to address Ireland’s significant retirement savings gap.
The Taoiseach confirmed that the Government's key goals are to "create a fairer and simpler contributory pension system where a person's pension outcome reflects their social insurance contributions, and in parallel, create a new and necessary culture of personal retirement saving in Ireland".
From 2020, a new State pension system will come into place based on a ‘total contributions approach’ (TCA) where a person’s lifetime contribution will more closely match the benefit they receive. Under TCA, a person's contributory pension will be proportionate to the contributions they make, with fair regard for periods of child rearing, full time caring, and periods in receipt of social protection payments.
Although the State pension will be reformed and will remain at the core of the pension system in Ireland, a new retirement savings system is still needed to supplement the State pension.
Minister Regina Doherty said: “It is increasingly evident that most Irish workers are not saving enough, or indeed at all, for their retirement years. Many people will be faced with a serious reduction in their living standards when they retire – a fall in income they clearly do not want.”
This new 'Automatic Enrolment' retirement savings system will be introduced from 2022 to support and encourage personal savings provision. It is intended that employee savings in this scheme will be supported by employer and State contributions.
Under this system, workers will be ‘automatically enrolled’ into a workplace pension scheme with the option to opt-out, should they choose to do so. However, looking at the international experience of similar systems, for example in the UK, once enrolled, workers tend to remain in the scheme.
Automatic enrolment is a natural extension of the payroll process, making more sense for employers to process the majority of these duties within their payroll software. At BrightPay, we have experienced the rollout of auto enrolment in the UK first hand, where we introduced auto enrolment features which enabled users to automate and simplify the entire process.
Thesaurus Payroll Manager will be able to seamlessly cater for Auto Enrolment without any additional costs to the software, and also includes free phone and email support.
